O Lord, grant that I may meet the coming day in peace.
Help me in all things to rely upon Your Holy Will.
In every hour of the day, reveal Your will to me.
Bless my dealings with all who surround me.
Teach me to treat all that comes to me throughout the day with peace of soul, and with the firm conviction that Your will governs all.
In all my deeds and words, guide my thoughts and feelings.
In unforeseen events, let me not forget that all are sent by You.
Teach me to act firmly and wisely, without embittering and embarrassing others.
Give me the strength to bear the fatigue of the coming day with all that it shall bring.
Direct my will.
Teach me to pray.
Pray Thou Thyself in me.
Amen.
Category: Life
Wisdom…
“When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?” ~
G.K. Chesterton
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Wisdom…
“There is nothing impossible unto those who believe; lively and unshaken faith can accomplish great miracles in the twinkling of an eye. Besides, even without our sincere and firm faith, miracles are accomplished, such as the miracles of the sacraments; for God’s Mystery is always accomplished, even though we were incredulous or unbelieving at the time of its celebration. “Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?” (Rom. 3:3). Our wickedness shall not overpower the unspeakable goodness and mercy of God; our dullness shall not overpower God’s wisdom, nor our infirmity God’s omnipotence.” —
My Life in Christ (autobiography of St. John of Kronstadt)
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There is…
only one thing I must do and that is be a Christian in the best sense of that word. Other things are important, for sure, but this is the most important thing. If I do this to the best of my ability aided by God’s grace, everything else I must do or be will find its proper place and perspective. If I fail at this everything that matters is lost.
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What Do I Need…
The one thing needful
(From the spiritual diary of St. John of Kronstadt, “My Life in Christ”)
(From the spiritual diary of St. John of Kronstadt, “My Life in Christ”)
What do I need? There is nothing on earth that I need, except that which is most essential. What do I need, what is most essential? I need the Lord, I need His grace, His kingdom within me. On earth, which is the place of my wanderings, my temporary being, there is nothing that is truly mine, everything belongs to God and is temporal, everything serves my needs temporarily. What do I need? I need true and active Christian love; I need a loving heart which takes compassion on its neighbors; I need joy over their prosperity and well-being, and sorrow over their sorrows and illnesses, their sins, failings, disorders, woes, poverty; I need warm and sincere compassion for all the circumstances of their lives, joy for those who are joyous and tears for those who are in tears. Enough of selfishness, egoism, living only for oneself and acquiring everything only for oneself: riches, pleasures, the glory of this world; enough of spiritual dying instead of living, grieving instead of rejoicing, and carrying within oneself the poison of selfishness, for selfishness is a poison that is continuously poured into our hearts by Satan. O, let me cry out with King David: Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides Thee. My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the strength of my heart. Grant me, O Lord, true life, dispel the darkness of my passions, disperse their power with Thy strength, for with Thee all things are possible!
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To Be Tempted…
is not to be a failure. All the great Saints, even Jesus Himself, were tempted. Too many times people think the presence of temptations is a sign they are failing but temptations are just that, pieces of thought that flow in and around us and mean nothing, in one sense, except that we are human beings who share the common mortality of our kind on this Earth. What matters is what we do with those random pieces of thought. Do we cultivate them, nurture them, and act on them? Then, and only then, do they have the potential to become sin and do us, and others, harm.
That being said I still wish temptations would go away. I find them annoying in the least and paralyzing, sometimes, at worst. Any moments of peace from their assault is a gift and those slender moments when all of who I am is in some state of holiness are treasures. I wither, sometimes, under the assault of temptation, and sometimes, too often, I fall. I desperately wish that life would be free of such things yet even those who live as hermits are not immune. So this seems to be part of what it is to be a human and I will have these things buzzing around my head like gnats until my last breath.
Still truth remains and I will try not to despair. To follow this beautiful path is to be challenged on all sides every day by everything that is less beautiful, less good, and less real. In time the peace will come. Its not what flies around me that matters so much as that which I embrace. In the end there is some comfort in that and some hope, as well.
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The Dry Times Come…
and the past few months have been dry, restless, challenging, and spiritually thin. There are things that I’ve wanted to do for decades that still haven’t happened and things I need to do that I’m not crazy about. There are places where I am and places where I want to be. There are dreams that remain unfulfilled and realities that have worn me down. Woven in and through it all is the sense that time is short and growing shorter.
These things happen, even when you’re a Priest. No collar makes you immune from the cares of life, or, for that matter, a heavy dose of mid-life crisis. Like everyone else you ask questions, wonder if you did or are doing the right thing, and sometimes ponder the life that could have been if you had, say, went to law school instead of seminary.
So what do you do? Like anyone else you figure out what things you can do something about and in what order they can be done. Then you pray and think and work and risk and second guess. All the kinds of things that everyone else does. Oh, and you hope that the dry times will someday end, someday feel the first drops of holy rain on the parched earth of your soul.
They do, they will, but until then you wait.
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More Wisdom…
It is always possible to make a new start by means of repentance. “You fell,” it is written, “now arise” (Proverbs 24:16). And if you fall again, then rise again, without despairing at all of your salvation, no matter what happens. As long as you do not surrender yourself willingly to the enemy, your patient endurance, combined with self-reproach, will suffice for your salvation. “For at one time we ourselves went astray in our folly and disobedience,” says St. Paul. ” . . . Yet he saved us, not because of any good things we had done, but in his mercy” (Titus 3:5). So do not despair in any way, ignoring God’s help, for he can do whatever he wishes. On the contrary, place your hope in him and he will do one of these things: either through trials and temptations, or in some other way which he alone knows, he will bring about your restoration, – or he will accept your patient endurance and humility in the place of works, – or because of your hope he will act lovingly toward you in some other way of which you are not aware, and so will save your shackled soul. Only do not abandon your Physician.
St Peter of Damascus
Via the Holy Fathers Facebook Page
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For My Brother…
who passed into glory on this day and is not forgotten either here or in heaven.
4: 7 But the righteous, though they die early, will be at rest.
8 For old age is not honored for length of time,
or measured by number of years;
9 but understanding is gray hair for anyone,
and a blameless life is ripe old age.
10 There were some who pleased God and were loved by him,
and while living among sinners were taken up.
11 They were caught up so that evil might not change their understanding
or guile deceive their souls.
12 For the fascination of wickedness obscures what is good,
and roving desire perverts the innocent mind.
13 Being perfected in a short time, they fulfilled long years;
14 for their souls were pleasing to the Lord,
therefore he took them quickly from the midst of wickedness.
15 Yet the peoples saw and did not understand,
or take such a thing to heart,
that God’s grace and mercy are with his elect,
and that he watches over his holy ones.
=The Wisdom of Solomon-
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On Peace…
From an Orthodox perspective there is no justification for war; even a war of defense is a lesser evil but is still an evil. The Orthodox Church, by faith and practice, believes that peace is normal and just. Therefore, war would be not only evil but it would be non-normative. We are to seek peace in each and every situation. The Greek Fathers wrote about peace in all situations and as such there would be no Orthodox Just War Theory as exists in Western Theological thought.
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